It is not wise warfare to throw your ammunition to the enemy unless you throw it from the cannon’s mouth.
Benjamin R. Tucker, “Passive Resistance,” Individual Liberty (1926).
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Benjamin R. Tucker
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An African-American First
On October 18, 1775, African-American poet Phillis Wheatley was freed from slavery, upon the death of her master. Widely appreciated in her day, she was the first African-American to publish a book.
A Chinese programmer who worked remotely for a foreign company between 2019 and 2022 has been fined his entire earnings from that work, 1.058 million yuan or almost 145,000 USD.
We know only the surname, Ma, of the robbed developer. Ma’s crime was using a virtual private network to evade China’s great firewall, a censorship net used to keep people from seeing anything too politically thought-provoking.
Many others in China also use VPNs to circumvent the great firewall, and many China-based companies couldn’t function without using VPNs.
Authorities first noticed Ma because of a Twitter account that was not even his, and which authorities agreed was not his. But now they were looking at him.
He says that he explained that while his remote work could be done without bypassing the wall and that the company’s support site could be reached without doing so, he needed to use a VPN only to access Zoom for meetings.
These details fell on deaf ears.
Whatever Ma’s exact alleged violation, something in what passes for law in China could be found to rationalize punishing him for it. He seems to be a victim of bad luck. A mix-up about a Twitter account. He ticked a few boxes. He had money. Money the local officials wanted.
The message to other Chinese: “You may think you’re getting away with X [“X” being one of the many peaceful activities that the Chinese government arbitrarily outlaws]. But we can get you any time.”
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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Lysander Spooner
Lysander Spooner, Natural Law; or, The Science of Justice, Section I, page 5 (1882).
The science of mine and thine — the science of justice — is the science of all human rights; of all a man’s rights of person and property; of all his rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
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The Backers of John Brown
“The date was October 17, 1909 — the fiftieth anniversary of John Brown’ famous (some say infamous) raid of the federal armory and arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, which ended with the deaths of most of Brown’s small band of men and led to the execution of Brown, making him the most celebrated martyr to the cause of abolition.” So begins The Secret Six: The True Tale of the Men Who Conspired with John Brown (1995), by Edward J. Renehan, Jr.
As the author goes on to explain, it was a big occasion, with many ceremonies, including an inconspicuous one “not far from the site of the engine house where John Brown’s enterprise ended in defeat, a small group of aging abolitionists held a quiet prayer meeting — anxious not to be taken much notice of.” But in Concord, Massachusetts, the “most poignant exercise in memory” took place: “the surviving remnants of the Secret Six, that small, enigmatic cabal of northern aristocrats who financed John Brown’s strange adventure.”
Those attending this meeting were two conspirators, Thomas Wentworth Higginson (December 22, 1823 – May 9, 1911) and Franklin Sanborn (December 15, 1831 – February 24, 1917), as well as Julia Ward Howe (May 27, 1819 – October 17, 1910), widow of a third conspirator, Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe (November 10, 1801 – January 9, 1876). Not present, because long dead, were Reverend Theodore Parker (August 24, 1810 – May 10, 1860), Gerrit Smith (March 6, 1797 – December 28, 1874), and George Luther Stearns (January 8, 1809 – April 9, 1867).
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Amber Ebony Insanity
Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder had a dream that ebony and ivory would live together in perfect harmony, like the keys on a piano keyboard. If the keyboard can do it, “oh Lord, why don’t we?”
Agreed, let’s do that. But not everybody wants to. And out in California, it is once again being confirmed that history is not a steady march into the light. Sometimes we retreat, and in the silliest ways.
The state has just instituted an amber alert system exclusively for missing black kids called ebony alert. The reason, according to the state senator behind the legislation, Steven Bradford, is that “Our black children and young women are disproportionately represented on the lists of missing persons. This is heartbreaking. . . .”
How will an ebony alert address this in ways an amber alert does not? Will black kids no longer be kidnapped or be more easily found if only there’s a racially divided alert system?
There’s no rhyme or reason. The reporting details how many black kids went missing in 2022, the percentage of missing persons who are black, etc. But it’s all a non sequitur. There’s no explanation of how having an ebony alert will, by itself, provide even one additional benefit.
If the amber alert currently functions imperfectly and might be improved, this can obviously be done without resorting to racial segregation.
Sen. Bradford says: “Something is better than nothing.”
Senator, that’s true only when the “something” makes sense.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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Voltairine de Cleyre
It is an American tradition that a standing army is a standing menace to liberty; in Jefferson’s presidency the army was reduced to 3,000 men. It is American tradition that we keep out of the affairs of other nations. It is American practice that we meddle with the affairs of everybody else from the West to the East Indies, from Russia to Japan; and to do it we have a standing army of 83,251 men.
Alexander Berkman, editor, Selected works of Voltairine de Cleyre (1914), p. 130.
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At Harpers Ferry
On this day in 1859, abolitionist John Brown led a group of 21 men — 14 white, seven black — on a raid of the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (then; since 1863, West Virginia), to capture weapons and initiate a slave revolt in southern states.
Brown’s forces initially captured the armory, which had only one guard on duty that night, but the expected uprising did not occur. Soon the raiders were blocked from any escape by townspeople and local militiamen and then overwhelmed by federal troops sent into the town (commanded by Colonel Robert E. Lee, who would later lead the Confederate armies).
Ten of Brown’s men were killed during the incident; seven were captured, tried, convicted and executed, including John Brown; and five escaped. Two enslaved African-Americans joined Brown’s cause and also died in the fighting. Battling against Brown’s raiders, a Marine and four townspeople lost their lives, including the town’s mayor and a free African-American.
Though the raid on Harpers Ferry was a failure, it set the states on the road to disunion, war, and the eventual end of slavery.
“John Brown began the war that ended American slavery and made this a free Republic,” Frederick Douglass would write in remembrance of this event. “Until this blow was struck, the prospect for freedom was dim, shadowy and uncertain. The irrepressible conflict was one of words, votes and compromises. When John Brown stretched forth his arm the sky was cleared. The time for compromises was gone — the armed hosts of freedom stood face to face over the chasm of a broken Union — and the clash of arms was at hand.”
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Watch: Insane in the Hillary Brain
Paul covers the big stories of the week, not excluding Hillary’s sad, sad memeplex-infested mind.
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Yves Guyot
The employer is, in the nature of things, neither the religious guide, the political guide, nor the intellectual guide of his workpeople. . . .
Yves Guyot, “The Socialism of Employers,” The Tyranny of Socialism (1894), p. 229-230.
The workmen are under only one obligation with regard to their employer, and this is the performance of the productive labour for which they receive their wages. If the employer wishes to exact anything beyond this, he is guilty of an error. He invites servility, revolt, or hypocrisy; and is preparing for himself a terrible return.